Since China announced more access for foreign investors in its financial sector, international brokerages are upping their investment in the Chinese market. What's key to their success in the future? Yang Chengxi finds out.

China has witnessed an acceleration in the opening up of its financial sector in the past two years. In Shanghai, the country's finance hub, foreign-invested institutions now make up 30 percent of all financial firms. Some have set up wholly-owned subsidiaries.

PATRICK LIU, CEO NEUBERGER BERMAN CHINA "We are very hopeful the government will allow us, will give us the opportunity to be more engaged, and as such, a broader license, which will allow us to participate in more businesses and get engaged with a wider base of investors will be of course most welcomed."

This April, further reforms have come to the securities sector, with the regulator CSRC releasing a new guideline that allows foreign companies to hold controlling stakes in their securities joint ventures in China. Experts say foreign firms do have certain advantages in this industry.

QIAN JUN, EXECUTIVE DEAN FANHAI INT'L SCHOOL OF FINANCE, FUDAN UNIVERSITY "That is, many many Chinese firms, state-owned or private owned, are doing global acquisitions and investments. This includes going to places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Europe and the US. Whenever a Chinese firm is going abroad, including going to Hong Kong, these international securities firms will have a clear advantage."

But for now, these foreign firms still account for a small market share. As their capacity increase and operations expand under the new measures, professor Qian said their biggest challenge remains localization.

QIAN JUN, EXECUTIVE DEAN FANHAI INT'L SCHOOL OF FINANCE, FUDAN UNIV. "The most important aspect is actually corporate governance. More specifically, whether the headquarter of these global institutions, delegate the important tasks to the Chinese subsidiaries."

That's because their Chinese teams are dealing with a quite different business and regulatory environment than in other global markets.

YANG CHENGXI SHANGHAI "Experts say the challenges for foreign securities firms now also reflect current issues in China's on-going financial reform."

QIAN JUN, EXECUTIVE DEAN FANHAI INT'L SCHOOL OF FINANCE, FUDAN UNIV. "Someday when the Chinese market is fully integrated into global markets, maybe you don't need to localize that much. But right now you still need it very much. The most important thing for the regulator to me is still to reform the Chinese IPO mechanism, a system where you move from a very administrative process to a process that is registration based and market based."

Firms like UBS and Societe Generale have already submitted their applications to increase holdings. Experts say domestic securities firms should prepare for a more competitive industry. YCX CGTN SHANGHAI.